Shush-Free Zone - Where librarians get loud!

In this episode of the Shush-Free Zone host Dawn Brushammar talks with Barisa Abdifatah, a knowledge management consultant, educator and certified knowledge manager, about the strong connection between librarianship and KM.

Topics include reference interviews, taxonomy, ontology, research and information literacy and they also explore the knowledge that doesn't fit neatly into a database: tacit knowledge, conversations, communities of practice and the relationships between people.

And because this is the Shush-Free Zone, Dawn and Barisa talk about why librarians are much more than people who organize books, the problem with “best practices,” and translating meaning across cultures. And of course the usual lightning round questions.

About Barisa:

Barisa Abdifatah is the Director of Knowledge Management at STRATactical International, where she drives strategy, operations, and client solutions that deliver measurable impact. She applies proven KM practices, such as Knowledge Cafés, Knowledge Transfer and Retention, Communities of Practice, and Organizational Network Analysis to drive collaboration, innovation, and better decision-making. She also recently joined the KMI CKM Instructor Team, in addition to George Mason University ODKM co-facilitator team, and Northern Virginia Community College ESL Instructors. 

With over twenty years of global experience in academia and professional settings, Barisa has worked as an educator, administrator, translator (English/Arabic), and librarian. She is passionate about building people-centered KM frameworks that unite process and technologyfor sustainable value.

Barisa holds a Bachelor's in English Language and Literature and a Master's in Library and Information Science. She is a Certified Knowledge Manager (CKM), Certified Knowledge Specialist in Organization Development (CKS-OD), Certified AI Manager (CAIM), certified educator with a Certificate for English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA), and upcoming Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

Barisa Abdifatah, CKM, MLIS | LinkedIn

Unlocked by Madelyn Blaire

Rheminiscing by Tony Rhem

Black Voices in KM

In this episode of Shush-Free Zone, host Dawn Brushammar talks with Alison King, career coach, founder of King Career Services, and creator of Leaping Librarians.

Alison shares her own journey from academic, public, and school libraries into corporate copy editing and what she has learned from helping other librarians make their own career leaps. They talk about recognizing the transferable skills librarians already have, translating those skills for employers outside the profession, networking without feeling awkward, and figuring out what you actually want to do next.

Whether you're thinking about leaving librarianship, exploring a library-adjacent career, or simply wondering what else your library skills could do, this conversation is full of practical advice and encouragement.

About Alison:

Alison King is a career management coach who helps librarians write the next chapter in their careers. She holds a master’s degree in Library & Information Science from Drexel University and worked in academic, public, and school libraries for over 10 years. In 2022, Alison took a leap and transitioned from school librarian to full-time corporate copy editor, all while building her own business (King Career Services/Leaping Librarians). She is one of only 76 Nationally Certified Resume Writers (NCRW) in the USA and makes it a point to learn one new thing every day to help her clients. Alison is on a mission to help librarians and LIS workers take the leap to achieve their most ambitious career goals!

Related Links:

www.linkedin.com/in/alisonking100

www.kingcareerservices.com

In this episode of Shush-Free Zone, host Dawn Brushammar is joined by Nancy Groves, Chief of Digital Strategy at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya.

Nancy's career has taken her from library school to CNN, NPR, the United Nations Library, global social media leadership, and now overseeing the digital strategy that helps communicate some of the world's most important environmental issues.

Nancy shares how the same core principles of librarianship such as organizing information, understanding user needs, building trust, and making knowledge accessible continue to guide her work on a global scale. Sharing many anecdotes from her unique her career path, Nancy highlights how asking "What do people actually need?" transformed her career.

Nancy also reflects on volunteering for opportunities before they officially existed, learning through curiosity, embracing international careers, and why librarians should never underestimate the value they bring to organizations.

If you've ever wondered where a library degree can take you, this conversation is a powerful reminder that those skills can help inform decisions that affect millions of people around the world.

About Nancy Groves:

Nancy Groves is part of the senior communications team at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, where she leads digital communications strategy focusing on social media, web, knowledge management and digital transformation, multilingualism, and internal communications for the organization. She manages a team of 25 personnel, overseeing online coverage and editorial support for major international events including sessions of the UN Environment Assembly, negotiations towards a treaty on plastic pollution, World Environment Day, and global advocacy campaigns on climate, pollution and biodiversity.

Prior to joining UNEP, Nancy spent 15 years with the Department of Global Communications at UN Headquarters in New York, where she conceptualized and led the Organization's multilingual social media strategy, supported Secretary-Generals Ban Ki-moon and António Gueterres and their spokespersons on digital and crisis communications, and organized live-streaming coverage of high-level UN events, including the UN General Assembly's first social media zone. She started her UN career in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library where she responded to questions from diplomats, journalists and the general public and started the first UN blog, called UN Pulse and the UN’s revamped intranet called iSeek.

Her earlier career included research and editorial roles supporting broadcast newsrooms at CNN and NPR in Washington, DC. along with part time work at public libraries and community colleges in the DC area.

Nancy holds a Master's degree from College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland-College Park and a double Bachelor's degree in English and French from Luther College.

In the first episode of Season 2, host Dawn Brushammar is joined by librarian, researcher, author, and technology evangelist Ole Olesen-Bagneux for a wide-ranging conversation about knowledge organization, metadata, semantics, and why library and information science is more relevant today than ever before.

Ole shares how a fascination with rare books, computers, and organizing information eventually led him from Library and Information Science into enterprise data, metadata management, and AI. Along the way, he explains why the semantic foundations of organizations already exist, why metadata isn't something you simply build from scratch, and why understanding context may be the missing ingredient in many AI initiatives.

About Ole:

Ole Olesen-Bagneux is a librarian, researcher, author, and internationally recognized thought leader in metadata management, enterprise data architecture, and AI. He is Vice President and Chief Evangelist at Actian, where he helps organizations modernize their approach to data intelligence, metadata, enterprise search, and knowledge discovery. Before joining Actian, he held leadership roles in enterprise architecture and data strategy. Ole holds a PhD in Library and Information Science from the University of Copenhagen and is the author of The Enterprise Data Catalog and Fundamentals of Metadata Management, both published by O'Reilly Media. His work bridges traditional library and information science with modern data management, knowledge graphs, and enterprise AI.

Connect with Ole:

LinkedIn: Ole Olesen-Bagneux on LinkedIn

Actian Leadership Profile: Actian Leadership Profile

Substack: Ole Olesen-Bagneux | Substack

Books mentioned:

The Enterprise Data Catalog — Ole Olesen-Bagneux

Fundamentals of Metadata Management — Ole Olesen-Bagneux

Bridging Knowledge, Data & AI — Joseph Hilger, Lulit Tesfaye, and Zachary Wahl

Season 1 of The Shush-Free Zone is officially wrapped and in this special bonus episode, host Dawn Brushammar looks back at the conversations, career journeys, and unexpected paths that shaped the first season.

When Dawn started the podcast, the goal was simple: challenge the outdated stereotype of librarians as quiet people who only work with books.

Librarianship has always been about solving problems, connecting people with knowledge, organizing complexity, and helping others find what they need.

Over 12 episodes, Dawn spoke with librarians and information professionals working across communities, knowledge management, leadership, coaching, AI, semantics, ontology, public health, technology, and beyond.

In this season finale, Dawn reflects on the common thread she discovered across all of these stories:

Information professionals have always been doing future-facing work.

Dawn also shares her own year in review — from building her independent consulting business and navigating Swedish bureaucracy, to working on semantic modelling projects, hosting and chairing KMWorld Europe, facilitating knowledge communities, mentoring, and exploring what comes next.

Plus, because every guest had to answer Dawn's lightning round questions, she finally turns the tables and answers them herself.

In this episode of Shush-Free Zone, host Dawn Brushammar sits down with Marydee Ojala, Editor-in-Chief of KMWorld magazine, writer, researcher, speaker, and longtime observer of the information and knowledge management profession.

Marydee shares her journey from shelving books as a teenager to working in corporate libraries, and ultimately becoming one of the most influential voices covering knowledge management, search, enterprise information, and AI. Along the way, she reflects on the evolution of information work from paper indexes and Dialog searches to semantic layers, agentic AI, and today's rapidly changing knowledge landscape.

The conversation explores why reference interviewing has surprising similarities to prompt engineering, how information literacy has become even more critical in the age of generative AI, and why librarians, taxonomists, and knowledge managers may be more relevant than ever.

Marydee also offers practical advice for early-career professionals, discusses the decline of corporate libraries, and reminds us that technology is only part of the story.

Plus, in the lightning round, as usual, an array of eclectic topics surface, such as Marydee's affection for conference pens and why the topic of theoretical physics fascinates her.

About Marydee:

Marydee Ojala is Editor-in-Chief for KMWorld magazine and co-editor of Enterprise AI World magazine. She also edits and writes for the Online Searcher section within the Computers in Libraries magazine. In addition to writing about libraries, online searching, and knowledge management, she speaks frequently at technology conferences. She plans conference programs for Enterprise Search & Discovery, Data Summit, and Searchers Academy. She contributes to conference planning for KMWorld and Enterprise AI World. Her information professional career began at BankAmerica Corporation, San Francisco, directing a worldwide program of library research, knowledge, and information services. Her undergraduate degree is from Brown University and her MLS was earned at the University of Pittsburgh.

Related Links:

Marydee Ojala | LinkedIn Linked In profile

www.infotoday.com/cilmag Online Searcher section in Computers in Libraries
www.kmworld.com  KMWorld magazine and conference
www.infotoday.eu ILI365 eNews (free monthly newsletter for librarians and occasional blog posts)
www.enterpriseaiworld.com Enterprise AI World magazine and conference
www.computersinlibraries.infotoday.com Computers in Libraries conference

In this episode of the Shush-Free Zone, host Dawn Brushammar sits down with Nicole Buckenwolf, Senior Staff Ontologist at Spotify, to unpack the invisible knowledge systems shaping how millions of people discover music and audiobooks every day.

Nicole’s journey is anything but linear. From growing up in rural Ohio and falling in love with a single encyclopedia volume, to studying medieval history, working in rare book preservation, and eventually finding the way into taxonomy and ontology, Nicole's story is a perfect example of how librarian skill sets show up in the most unexpected places.

We explore what it actually means to be an ontologist at Spotify (spoiler: it’s deeply librarian work), how you structure something as subjective and emotional as music, and why ambiguity—yes, even the dreaded “Other” category—is where the real magic happens.

We also get into the realities of building knowledge systems at massive scale, the tension between speed and thoughtful knowledge work in the age of AI, and why librarians might finally be having their moment… even if the hard parts of the work haven’t changed.

If you’ve ever wondered how your Spotify Wrapped comes together, or how machines make sense of something as human as music, this episode is for you.

About Nicole:

Nicole Buckenwolf | LinkedIn

Nicole Buckenwolf is a Senior Staff Ontologist at Spotify, where she works on a small central team responsible for ontology/taxonomy and domain modeling across the company's media catalog. The team serves as an expert resource for groups across the organization, helping teams improve interoperability, align their models to best practices, and extend them to new use cases. 

Specializing in knowledge representation for subjective and emotionally resonant domains, she builds the frameworks that make concepts like genre, mood, and format structured enough for production systems without losing the human meaning that makes them useful. Her interdisciplinary background spans music, history, linguistics, and the non-profit sector, informing an approach attentive to cultural context and inclusive practice. At Spotify, her work has included building the audiobooks genre classification system and leading genre alignment across teams and platforms. She is drawn to the gaps between how humans experience content and how systems are asked to represent it.

In this episode of Shush Free Zone, host Dawn Brushammar sits down with Heather Johnson - a public health professional working at the intersection of evidence synthesis, health communication, and implementation science.

Heather’s career is a powerful example of what this podcast is all about: taking core library and information science skills such as organizing knowledge, evaluating evidence, translating complexity and applying them in ways that go far beyond traditional roles.

From systematic reviews to patient education to community health programming, Heather shows how getting the right information to the right people at the right time isn’t just good practice… it’s life-changing.

Heather holds both an MLIS and an MPH and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH), continuing to bridge librarianship and public health in meaningful, scalable ways.

About Heather Johnson:

Heather Johnson is a public health professional specializing in evidence synthesis, cancer screening initiatives, and implementation science.

In her work within cancer diagnostics, she focuses on understanding what drives (or prevents) colorectal cancer screening, using systematic reviews and data-driven insights to inform real-world interventions.

Heather's work also encompasses:

Aydel Health - Where she is developing tailored patient education tools that improve understanding and reduce friction in healthcare. Sonoran Evidence Partners - Supporting libraries in designing and evaluating community health programs with measurable impact.

Relevant Links:

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherjohnson-publichealth/

Aydel Health:

https://www.aydelhealth.com/

Sonoran Evidence Partners:

https://www.sonoranevidencepartners.com/

In this episode of the Shush Free Zone, host Dawn Brushammar speaks with Angela Pashia, a leadership and career development coach, about her journey from academic librarian to coaching library professionals. They discuss the importance of curiosity in coaching, the challenges of leadership, and how librarians can translate their skills into new contexts.

Angela shares insights on handling difficult conversations, the difference between coaching and advising, and the future of librarianship in a rapidly changing world. The conversation also touches on Angela's personal experiences moving to a new country and her coaching programs designed to empower library leaders.

About Angela:

Angela Pashia helps library leaders confidently manage change and conflict in their libraries. As an ICF-certified (ACC) leadership coach, Angela offers confidential individual coaching to navigate challenging team dynamics in a way that is aligned with your values. Angela also teaches Lead With Curiosity: Coaching skills for library leaders, adapting professional coaching skills to the complex practicalities of managing a team.

Angela was an academic librarian for 12 years, focusing on teaching critical information literacy, working against structural oppression within libraries, and growing as a collaborative leader. In addition to leading a team within the library, Angela led change across campus through roles like chairing the Faculty Senate Diversity and Internationalization Committee, co-chairing the campus General Education Redesign Committee, and serving a term as President of the campus AAUP chapter.

Related Links:

Lead With Curiosity - https://leadwithcuriosity.org 

Individual coaching - https://angelapashia.com/coaching/ 

Coaching Librarian Newsletter (free!) - https://angelapashia.com/newsletter/ 

In this episode of The Shush-Free Zone, host Dawn Brushammar speaks with Matthew Noe, a health sciences librarian at Harvard Medical School who specializes in graphic medicine. Matthew shares his path into librarianship, how comics became central to his professional identity, and why storytelling is such a powerful tool in health education.

They explore how graphic novels can deepen understanding of illness, support empathy in medical training, and create meaningful connections between clinicians, patients, and communities. Matthew also discusses building a major graphic medicine collection, fostering community through zines and book clubs, and teaching future librarians about the growing intersection of comics, health, and knowledge sharing.

About Matthew:

Matthew Noe is currently the Lead Collection & Knowledge Management Librarian at Harvard Medical School, an instructor for both the University of Kentucky and Library Juice Academy, and a Trustee for the Worcester Public Library. He is a former President for the American Library Association's Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table and the Treasurer for the Graphic Medicine International Collective. While continuing to take on far too many things, he tries to find time to be kind, do good, and read comics.

Find him on social media at @NoetheMatt or by e-mail: [email protected]

Relevant Links:

• Graphic Medicine at Countway: https://countway.harvard.edu/services/collections/graphic-medicine-countway
• Graphic Medicine International Collective: https://www.graphicmedicine.org/
• American Library Association, Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table: https://www.ala.org/gncrt
• Syllabus by Lynda Barry: https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/syllabus/
• Ripple Effects - an award-winning work of graphic medicine by Jordan Hart and Bruno Chiroleu, published by Fanbase Press. Matthew provided a foreword: https://fanbasepress.com/publishing/item/11960-ripple-effects/
• Gender Queer: The Annotated Edition by Maia Kobabe - Matthew provided annotations for this upcoming special edition: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Gender-Queer-The-Annotated-Edition/Maia-Kobabe/Gender-Queer-A-Memoir/9798894880822
• Library Juice Academy, Introduction to Comics Librarianship course: https://libraryjuiceacademy.com/shop/course/337-introduction-to-comics-librarianship/
• More about that smoky tea, called lapsang souchong: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapsang_souchong